Ørnulf Tofte is a Norwegian former police officer.

He was central in the Norwegian intelligence service during most of the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, and served as head of counter-intelligence

Counter-intelligence

Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...

.

He graduated from the police academy in March 1940 and joined the police force as a constable. In 1948, he joined the Police Surveillance Agency. He was promoted to sergeant in 1952 and inspector in 1954. He eventually rose to become Assistant Chief of Police (i.e. corresponding to Assistant Chief Constable

Assistant Chief Constable

Assistant chief constable is the third highest rank in all British territorial police forces , as well as the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police and...

 or Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 in the UK police force) and head of counter-intelligence, reporting directly to the Director of the Police Surveillance Agency.

Tofte was involved in the investigations of all the three major spy cases in Norway during the Cold War: The Sunde

Asbjørn Sunde

Asbjørn Edvin Sunde was a Norwegian sailor, communist, a saboteur against the Nazi occupation of Norway during the Second World War, and a convicted spy for the Soviet Union. During the war, from 1941 to 1944, Sunde's group - the Osvald Group - carried out approximately 200 acts of sabotage and...

 case, the Haavik

Gunvor Galtung Haavik

Gunvor Galtung Haavik was a Norwegian employee of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was arrested on 27 January 1977 after being betrayed by Oleg Gordievsky and charged with espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and treason...

 case and the Treholt

Arne Treholt

Arne Treholt is a former Norwegian Labour Party politician and diplomat convicted of high treason and espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Iraq during the Cold War. Treholt's espionage is generally seen as the most serious spy case in the modern history of Norway...

 case. He personally arrested all three and headed the investigations of the Haavik and Treholt cases.

He received The King's Medal of Merit in Gold upon his retirement in 1987. The same year, he published his biography, Spaneren.

Publications

• Ørnulf Tofte: Spaneren: Overvåkning for rikets sikkerhet, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1987, ISBN 82-05-17390-7